Perception on Sexuality Education in Secondary Schools: An Exploratory Study among University of Cyberjaya Students

Abstract

The Malaysian government has introduced sexual education in schools; however, the misbehaviour of sexual activities among Malaysian teenagers is quite alarming. Therefore, we aim to explore the experience and opinion of sexuality education in secondary schools among University of Cyberjaya students who have recently completed their school years here. A semi-structured in-depth one-to-one interview was conducted among ten foundation and undergraduate students. The interviews were carried out and recorded online which were further transcribed verbatim then reviewed and coded manually into themes. Two themes have emerged which was experience and opinion about sexual education in secondary schools. Regarding experience, the respondents have agreed that their science knowledge was increased in secondary school. However, all the respondents said that the content was not sufficient, and it was a brief topic taught in Science and Islamic studies. Several barriers in sexual education were identified in the study including inexperience educators, shameful and stigma towards sexual education, lead to unclear, incomprehensive, delivered casually, and not helpful in facing the real world. Hence, they have strong opinion that sex education should be formally imparted while some suggested that sex education should not only be in science and Islamic subjects but can be included in other subjects as well. Comprehensive sexual education is essentially needed and it should be integrated into some subjects in secondary school’s curriculum. This study also suggests different ways of teaching methods implemented at different ages which cover cognitive, physical, emotional, and social aspects to reduce irresponsible acts and sexual risk behaviours and to prepare them to face the real adulthood world in the future.